Anquan Boldin

Arizona Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald in August signed an eight-year, $120 million contract extension, one that has made him one of the highest-paid players in the NFL. He's not very happy right now, though. He misses Anquan Boldin. Frustrated by Arizona's 1-4 start, Fitzgerald vented to The Arizona Republic about the lack of a legitimate wingman to keep defenses honest, something Boldin was doing before the Ravens acquired him in 2010. "Here's the one small thing that everyone forgets about when Kurt [Warner]

San Francisco 49ers players walked around the Under Armour Performance Center on Saturday, following signs that directed them to destinations important over the next three days. Arrows pointed them to the dining area, the showers and the indoor training facility, which has been partially transformed to house San Francisco's locker and training rooms. Anquan Boldin didn't need the help. He knew his way around. It had been more than 16 months since the veteran wide receiver was last in the building, but Boldin was one 49er excited about the trip to the East Coast and the joint practices against the team with which he spent three seasons and won Super Bowl XLVII.

The Ravens scored two rushing touchdowns in last Sunday's 25-15 win against the Cleveland Browns. Bernard Pierce's 12-yard scamper with one second left in the first quarter gave the team a 14-0 lead, but it might have gone for naught if not for a timely block by Anquan Boldin. Lined up to the left of the offensive front, the wide receiver engaged cornerback Sheldon Brown long enough at the 8-yard line for Pierce to bounce to his left and race down the sideline untouched. It was a seemingly minor footnote in a performance in which Boldin had five catches for 57yards, but to Boldin, the block was just as important as his 21-yard reception that contributed to Torrey Smith's game-winning 19-yard touchdown catch.

Now that wide receiver Steve Smith has arrived in Baltimore via his three-year, $11 million contract, he fills the void of physicality and toughness created a year ago when the Ravens traded Anquan Boldin to the San Francisco 49ers following a contract dispute. Both Smith and Boldin excel at making contested catches, are fearless going across the middle, have a mean stiff arm and posses the veteran savvy of understanding spacing and body control. Both are feisty on the field and regarded as leaders in the locker room.

The Pittsburgh Steelers' Ike Taylor, who Ravens wide receiver Anquan Boldin matched up with at times last Sunday, certainly does his share of talking on the field. However, Titans cornerback Cortland Finnegan's reputation stands alone. Finnegan, a Pro Bowl starter in 2008, has been disciplined several times by the NFL because of his on-field antics, including last November when he had a fist fight with Houston Texans star wide receiver Andre Johnson. His reputation as one of the NFL's biggest agitators is well documented.

The Ravens made a tough business decision Monday, dealing veteran wide receiver and playoff hero Anquan Boldin to the San Francisco 49ers for a sixth-round pick in April's draft after Boldin wouldn't accept a pay cut. Judging by all of the angry, confused and/or heartbroken Ravens fans that blew up my Twitter immediately after my colleague Aaron Wilson broke the story, the majority of the vocal minority feels that the Ravens did Boldin a dirty, got...

Every Tuesday, blogger Matt Vensel breaks down a critical play, sometimes with the help of Ravens players, from that week's game. Today he looks at Anquan Boldin's ice-breaking catch in the fourth quarter Sunday. For a span of about two quarters Sunday, the Ravens offense, which had started the game with two efficient touchdown drives on their first two possessions, went ice cold. In five straight possessions, the Ravens failed to pick up a first down. Not so suddenly, in the fourth quarter, they trailed the Cleveland Browns by a point.

Here is what national analysts are saying about the Ravens trading Anquan Boldin to the San Francisco 49ers. --- Pete Prisco of CBS Sports says that trading Boldin makes sense because he no longer gets separation . “He was old and slow and made too much dough and had to go. … I think Boldin is the best receiver in NFL history at catching passes when he is not open,” Prisco wrote. “His inability to separate because of a lack of speed has forced him to evolve into a receiver who uses his hands and his body to make catches.

Now that wide receiver Steve Smith has arrived in Baltimore via his three-year, $11 million contract, he fills the void of physicality and toughness created a year ago when the Ravens traded Anquan Boldin to the San Francisco 49ers following a contract dispute. Both Smith and Boldin excel at making contested catches, are fearless going across the middle, have a mean stiff arm and posses the veteran savvy of understanding spacing and body control. Both are feisty on the field and regarded as leaders in the locker room.

At 31, Anquan Boldin is the oldest receiver on the Ravens roster by a few years (newcomer Jacoby Jones is closest in age at 27). Some of his fellow wide-outs were in middle school when he broke into the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals nine years ago, and they no doubt grew up watching him score touchdowns on TV. Boldin laughed Wednesday when asked about resuming his leadership role among the Ravens' relatively inexperienced wide receiving corps....

When Joe Flacco and the Ravens offense caught fire during the 2012 postseason, a big spark was the play of a pair of pass-catchers over the middle. With the Ravens often going three-wide with tight end Dennis Pitta in the slot, Flacco had a lot of success targeting Pitta and burly slot receiver Anquan Boldin. Last season, the Ravens were missing that element of their offense and it cost them. They traded Boldin to the San Francisco 49ers and then lost Pitta, expected to pick up more of the slack , in training camp.

After one season in San Francisco, veteran wide receiver Anquan Boldin decided that he didn't want to go anywhere else. Boldin, the former Raven, broke the news on his Twitter account that he has re-signed with the 49ers a little more than a week before he was eligible to hit free agency. According to reports, Boldin agreed to a two-year deal. "49er fans, I wanted to be the first to tell you that I'm returning to San Francisco," Boldin write on his foundation's web site.

Two weeks ago, when addressing the state of the Ravens heading into this offseason, general manager Ozzie Newsome was vague when discussing the team's stated need of adding another target for quarterback Joe Flacco. The only clue Newsome gave was that the Ravens wanted a wide receiver or tight end “that can make a third-and-7, third-and-8 catch and run after the catch.” This week at the Senior Bowl, in an interview with the team's website , director of college scouting Joe Hortiz specified the type of player they covet -- and it sounds a lot like Anquan Boldin.

There is a saying when it comes to Ozzie Newsome and the Ravens. No, not “In Ozzie We Trust,” but it has a similar refrain. It's that the Ravens, who are respected across the NFL for their talent evaluation above all else, have shown they know when to cut ties with players “a year early, not a year late.” But in most cases, they don't cast aside their aging, expensive veterans a year early. They usually hit the expiration date on the head, like they did with Derrick Mason, Todd Heap and Kelly Gregg in 2011.

When the Ravens' brain trust gathered at owner Steve Bisciotti's home in Florida over the weekend, they began to formulate plans designed to get the organization back in the postseason after a one-year absence. Many of those plans are a couple of months away from coming to fruition as free agency doesn't start until March 11 and the first day of the NFL draft isn't until May 8. But some other decisions, starting with the composition of John Harbaugh's coaching staff, could become clearer this week with the AFC and NFC championship matchups now set. The San Diego Chargers' loss to the Denver Broncos frees up the Chargers' offensive coordinator, Ken Whisenhunt , to accept a head coaching job if one is offered.

The Ravens know they need another wide receiver and they already know the exact type of playmaker they covet, not that they wanted to go into specifics with the Baltimore media during last week's season-ending news conference. But general manager Ozzie Newsome did offer one hint as to what the Ravens might be looking for, which should have been obvious to anyone who watched their offense stall throughout the disappointing 2013 season. "We need to be able to get a receiver - whether it's a tight end or a wide receiver - that can make a third-and-7, third-and-8 catch and run after the catch," Newsome said.

Ravens receiver Anquan Boldin doesn't talk a lot, but he is never at a loss for words. So when the Ravens were stinking up the Georgia Dome Thursday night in Atlanta, Boldin delivered a halftime speech to his teammates. Apparently, some of them didn't get the message, because after quarterback Joe Flacco threw an interception on the Ravens first possession of the third quarter, it was on. And Boldin went off. In front of a national TV audience, Boldin ripped into his offensive teammates in a speech that would have made Gen. George S. Patton proud.

When the Ravens hold their annual state-of-the-team news conference on Wednesday at the Under Armour Performance Center, we would all do well to listen closely to what owner Steve Bisciotti and his upper management team have to say. This is the one opportunity for the media and fans to get a real sense of how the Ravens front office feels about the just-completed season and how the top executives are planning to reconfigure the team for 2014 and...

When Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton was drafted in the second round three years ago, his arrival was accompanied by many questions surrounding a lack of ideal size and arm strength. Much like Dalton, Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco had to deal with critics. Specifically, whether his game would translate from small-school Delaware when he was drafted in the first round six years ago. Now, Dalton has launched a similar career route to Flacco. Both quarterbacks started in their rookie seasons and both have gone on to reach the playoffs every year since entering the NFL. Heading into Sunday's game at M&T Bank Stadium, Dalton is emerging as an increasingly dangerous passer for the AFC North's first-place Bengals.